Rethinking Normal

A Memoir in Transition

Baker & TaylorA college student who endured years of bullying and disapprobation describes how after numerous failed therapies she accepted her transgender status and began learning how to be a girl while pursuing surgical gender reassignment.

Baker & Taylor"In her unique, generous, and affecting voice, nineteen-year-old Katie Hill shares her personal journey of undergoing gender reassignment. Have you ever worried that you'd never be able to live up to your parents' expectations? Have you ever imagined that life would be better if you were just invisible? Have you ever thought you would do anything--anything--to make the teasing stop? Katie Hill had and it nearly tore her apart. Katie never felt comfortable in her own skin. She realized very young that aserious mistake had been made; she was a girl who had been born in the body of a boy. Suffocating under her peers' bullying and the mounting pressure to be "normal," Katie tried to take her life at the age of eight years old. After several other failed attempts, she finally understood that "Katie"--the girl trapped within her--was determined to live. In this first-person account, Katie reflects on her pain-filled childhood and the events leading up to the life-changing decision to undergo gender reassignment as a teenager. She reveals the unique challenges she faced while unlearning how to be a boy and shares what it was like to navigate the dating world and experience heartbreak for the first time in a body that matched her gender identity. Told in an unwaveringly honest voice, Rethinking Normal is a coming-of-age story about transcending physical appearances and redefining the parameters of "normalcy" to embody one's true self"--"In this Young Adult memoir, a transgender girl shares her personal journey of growing up as a boy and then undergoing gender reassignment during her teens"--A personal account by a college student who endured years of bullying and disapprobation describes how after numerous failed therapies she accepted her transgender status and began learning how to be a girl while pursuing surgical gender reassignment. A first book.

Have you ever worried that you’d never be able to live up to your parents’ expectations? Have you ever imagined that life would be better if you were just invisible? Have you ever thought you would do anything—anything—to make the teasing stop? Katie Hill had and it nearly tore her apart.

Katie never felt comfortable in her own skin. She realized very young that a serious mistake had been made; she was a girl who had been born in the body of a boy. Suffocating under her peers’ bullying and the mounting pressure to be “normal,” Katie tried to take her life at the age of eight years old. After several other failed attempts, she finally understood that “Katie”—the girl trapped within her—was determined to live.

In this first-person account, Katie reflects on her pain-filled childhood and the events leading up to the life-changing decision to undergo gender reassignment as a teenager. She reveals the unique challenges she faced while unlearning how to be a boy and shares what it was like to navigate the dating world and experience heartbreak for the first time in a body that matched her gender identity. Told in an unwaveringly honest voice, Rethinking Normal is a coming-of-age story about transcending physical appearances and redefining the parameters of “normalcy” to embody one’s true self.

An engaging story about a kid who was in the body of a boy but felt like a girl her whole life. She transitions to dressing and living as a girl in high school in Oklahoma, with all the pain and bullying that entails. Reading her story helps bring understanding to an often misunderstood subject and creates empathy for those living with this dilemma.
~Angelina

The first time I heard about Katie Rain Hill was during one of her many interviews on television. She’s been interviewed for CNN, ABC’s 20/20, Tulsa World and many other media outlets. I haven’t read many memoirs, autobiographies or biographies in my lifetime, but I was curious and thrilled to get a chance to learn more about Katie’s story in her first book: Rethinking Normal.

If you haven’t heard of her, you’re probably wondering by now: what makes her so special? Well, she’s a transgender woman, which essentially means she was born male, but identifies as female.

In her book Rethinking Normal, Katie shares her life story—everything from childhood until now. She talks about her home life and school, falling in love, her transition and gender re-assignment surgery, and being a part of the LGBT community, taking an active part in bringing more awareness about being a transgender person.